Shield Limpet? Or something else?

tkh

tkh

New member
So the other week when I was redoing my rock-work, I came across this little guy! Its a little over an inch long when its cruising around, and has a hard, hidden shell. I believe it to be a shield limpet, but I am not sure, since I've never seen the white shell part exposed. Since then, I have seen it a few times at night cruising the rocks. I've also seen it recently puffing dust (?) into the water column... In any case, I sure hope its not a pest! Sorry for the pictures... like most ID pics, its blurry, and all in all a terrible picture.

View attachment 12507View attachment 12508

Any ideas if I'm guessing correctly here?
 
I have ton black ones and pink ones they fast some kind of snails i was told good havent bothered sny thing stomata i think
 
It looks like a black stomatellid snail. Here's one from my tank, spawning (which sounds like what your snail was doing), and the same snail cruising around. The shell looks bluish, but it's just how the light is hitting it. It's actually black. Oh, and the two tubes you see on the left side of the second photo are vermetid gastropods. These send out a single mucus strand to catch particles in the water column, then reel it back in to feed. They'll also cut the living daylights out of you if you're not careful - reason #five-zillion to always wear gloves! :)
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Juvenile Stomatella, entire length is ~2-3mm. I figured I'd offer this photo so you could get a better look at the anterior end - eyes and antennae. Note the whorl in the shell towards the hind end (Scutus/shield limpet shells don't have this).
View attachment 12515

If what you have looks different (and I'm obviously missing something!), let me/us know and we'll give it another go. Shield limpets/Scutus spp. typically have a whitish to tan-colored, elongate shell that's kept covered by the snail's soft tissue/mantle. Usually, the only visible part of the shell is right down the middle, where the mantle flaps don't quite meet.

Hope that helps!
 
Thank you Lynn!!! That's exactly what I was looking for! I was tentative in thinking it was a shield limpet, precisely because I never saw the whitish shell bit, but a simple google search did not help me much further (black mantle, hidden shell strangely didn't get me too far, lol). Cool, I will update my livestock list with this :) The juvenile one is so cute, lol, I hope mine's spawning was successful.. if they can indeed spawn successfully in captivity.

Thanks again!
 
tkh said:
Thank you Lynn!!! That's exactly what I was looking for! I was tentative in thinking it was a shield limpet, precisely because I never saw the whitish shell bit, but a simple google search did not help me much further (black mantle, hidden shell strangely didn't get me too far, lol). Cool, I will update my livestock list with this :) The juvenile one is so cute, lol, I hope mine's spawning was successful.. if they can indeed spawn successfully in captivity.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
They r like rabbits all tgey do is eat and spawn
 
You're welcome, Erik! Yep, as madjoe stated, they breed like rabbits. Lucky for us, the whole process from fertilization (in the water column), to hatching and swimming around (as non-feeding/"lecithotropic" veligers), to metamorphosing and settling (as crawling juveniles), is short enough to allow them to reproduce well in captivity.

What's also neat about these guys is that they can detach the hind portion of their foot when threathened by a predator (like a lizard). If something comes after them (peppermint shrimp love to eat these guys), they can drop the foot tip, which squirms around, while they take off.
 
Lynn Z said:
You're welcome, Erik! Yep, as madjoe stated, they breed like rabbits. Lucky for us, the whole process from fertilization (in the water column), to hatching and swimming around (as non-feeding/"lecithotropic" veligers), to metamorphosing and settling (as crawling juveniles), is short enough to allow them to reproduce well in captivity.

What's also neat about these guys is that they can detach the hind portion of their foot when threathened by a predator (like a lizard). If something comes after them (peppermint shrimp love to eat these guys), they can drop the foot tip, which squirms around, while they take off.
Click to expand...

Not to hijack but on the subject of stomatella: is this video just a different species? I have lots of the black and cream colored ones but these green ones have a face much more like a nudibranch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=034Rs0oj79E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
Oh, now that's cool. That's not a stomatellid snail at all. That's a cephalaspidean of some sort, probably something in the family Haminoeidae, aka a "bubble"snail (herbivore). Here's a link to an example (Diniatys dentifer): http://www.seaslugforum.net/showall/dinident , but you might also want to do an online search for species of Haminoea.
 
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